At present, the taxiing speed of an aircraft is controlled manually by a pilot of the aircraft either by controlling the forward thrust produced by the propulsion engines of the aircraft, or by using the braking system of the aircraft wheels, or else, more rarely, by combined thrust and braking control. That way of controlling the taxiing speed of an aircraft is not very accurate and requires the pilot to adapt control to surrounding conditions, to the surface of the runway, to structural characteristics of the aircraft (weight, etc.).
The aircraft is steered manually by the pilot using a device for steering the nosewheels of the aircraft. The pilot controls the swivel angle of the nosewheels in real time in order to cause the aircraft to follow a desired path. Controlling the steering of the aircraft in that way requires the pilot to perform numerous piloting operations in real time.